2014 AAJA Broadcast News Internship Grants

Apply to the 2014 Broadcast News Internship Grants for a chance to be awarded up to $1,000 towards a summer internship. These two AAJA Broadcast News Grants support Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) pursuing journalism careers in broadcasting, an industry where AAPIs continue to be underrepresented.

The 2014 grants:

One internship grant in the amount of $500 will be awarded to a student broadcaster in honor of the late Sam Chu Lin. This grant is open to women and men in television or radio.

Chu Lin was among the first Asian American male reporters on network television, and during his long journalism career he was on air with CBS News, KOOL-TV in Phoenix and KTTV-TV and KTLA-TV, both in Los Angeles. He also worked as a radio reporter and wrote articles on Asian American affairs. Chu Lin was the 2007 recipient of AAJA’s Lifetime Achievement Award, which is given to individuals who have demonstrated their commitment to the principles of journalism and Asian American Pacific Islander issues. In addition to his AAJA award, he has also received awards from The Associated Press, United Press International, The Greater Los Angeles Press Club and the Radio and Television News Association.

2013 awardee Taylor Wing, a current senior at Chapman University, used the grant while interning with Dateline NBC at the 30 Rock office in New York. “Living in New York is obviously an expensive challenge,” says Wing. “The Broadcast News Grant … paid for all of my transportation this summer, which was a very big relief and allowed me to re-focus that energy on being the best possible intern that I could be.”

Wing also met her mentor while working at NBC, fellow AAJA member Marjorie McAfee, with whom she collaborated on a special Dateline episode. “[McAfee] went out of her way to teach me the in’s and out’s of producing, allowed me to accompany her on all of her shoots, and was a great professional role model.”

Currently Wing is interning for a second semester with Dateline NBC in the Burbank Bureau. She is also a reporter/anchor for her university’s campus media outlet, Chapman News. After graduating next May, Wing plans to return to NBC News where she has been offered a position as an NBC Page.

One internship grant in the amount of $1,000 will be awarded to an aspiring Asian American male television broadcaster from the Lloyd LaCuesta Scholarship Fund.

Mr. LaCuesta recently retired after being the South Bay Bureau chief of KTVU. Prior to joining KTVU, he was the writer/editor for KNX/CBS Radio in Los Angeles and writer/producer for KABC-TV in Los Angeles and KGO-TV in San Francisco. Throughout his career, he has won Emmy Awards, received honors from the Peninsula Press Club, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Associated Press. A past president of AAJA, he received AAJA’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004.

Davey Kim, a recent graduate of UCLA, interned last summer on NPR-KPCC Southern California Public Radio’s program “Take Two” and American Public Media’s “The Dinner Party Download” and “Marketplace.” Both internships were unpaid, and the Broadcast News Internship Grant allowed Kim to pursue both opportunities without having to find a part-time job. “I was worried that I would have to drop one [of the internships],” says Kim. “But the grant made it possible for me to focus all my time on my career.”

Through his summer internships, Kim says he was able to make connections with industry professionals who will likely become his future supervisors and colleagues. “Skill level and experience is very important, but part of this industry is also built on who you know. Through project collaborations and lunch break conversations, I [met] many individuals who are willing to invest in my professional and personal goals.”

Kim plans on pursuing a career in reporting, focusing on education and emerging communities.

HOW TO APPLY

Applicants may apply to both grants if they meet eligibility requirements for both grants.

Eligibility and Rules:
1. Applicants must be full-time college students or recent college graduates.
2. Applicants must have already secured a 2014 summer internship before applying for the internship grant. The stipend is to be used toward living expenses and/or transportation during your internship. Accepted applicants will be required to sign a waver acknowledging this.
3. AAJA student membership is strongly encouraged for all applicants, but not required to apply. Those selected to receive grants will be required to sign up for AAJA student membership.

The selected awardees will also be assigned a professional journalist mentor through the AAJA Broadcast Mentor Program.

Applications must be submitted no later than April 18, 2014. APPLY TODAY!

Application information will only be used internally by AAJA to promote student opportunities and for program evaluation and planning. In the application form, please indicate whether you would like to be notified of further student opportunities from AAJA, including scholarships, grants and additional journalism training.